Greetings From Idaho

[frankfair]

Newbie to formum and have a similar project to gocart but not exactly. Figure most of you are the sort of people who can figure out a problem.

I love to fish but am physically unable to walk due to multiple sclerosis. I can't get to many prime fishing spots because my electric scooter is not wide enough to be stable, tires too narrow, etc. I can't afford one of the UTVs like polaris Ranger and can't lift my legs enough to mount a regular ATV.

I bought an older John Deere riding mower (rear engine, manual transmission) with a relatively flat floor (no hump). I removed the mowing deck, relocated starter switch, mounted a bar to clutch pedal for hand operation, a boat seat with locking swivel mount, drink holder, two rod holders and a basket for tackle box.

Went steelhead fishing this weekend and found a couple of more items that would really help.

Would it be possible to remove the stirring wheel and replace with a bar type steering system with hand brakes and clutch on handle bars? If feasible, how to get parts to accomplish this?

Thanks for any advice and help.

Frank

[anderkart]

Hey, sounds like you gotta a cool fishing-mobile goin there.

How far does the steering wheel turn lock to lock? (1 full turn, 2 turns?) Picture a pair of motorcycle handle bars on there, does it seem they'd comfortably give you a pretty full turning radius?

If so you could probably track down a nice used pair (in most any style or shape) with all the throttle, brake, clutch handles/cables and even some electrical switches intact. Might be good to buy the matching handle bar risers to bolt down to a steel plate, welded to just the cut down center hub section of your steering wheel, and then bolted right down like before in place of the full steering wheel. Might take some cutting/welding and improvising to get everything hooked up but it all seems pretty do-able to me. You could probably even find some with master cylinder (s) intact and then get the matching lines/slave cylinders to hydraulically operate your clutch/brakes for reduced lever pull effort.

We got some pretty sharp riding lawn mower guys here, you should post a thread (w/pics if possible) in the Photo Gallery & Project Log section. They may not run across your thread here.

Good luck man, sounds like an interesting project.

[Kaptain Krunch]

Welcome, sounds like a cool little buggy you got going on there. Have you considered getting an extra battery and hooking up a car head unit and some speakers?

[freakboy]

Hahaha how bout a cooler holder?

[Rickracer]

Cooler? On an Ice Fishing Rig??? Hahahahaha, maybe a hand warmer??

[Kaptain Krunch]

Where did hey say it was for ice fishing? Besides, is it ever too cold for beer? But speaking of hand warmers you could always find an old pair of snowmobile handlebars with heated grips, im using one as a heated shifter grip on my kart.

[Rickracer]

Maybe it was in the other thread, or maybe it was in my head???